Young trainer hopeful of maiden city winner at Doomben

By Glenn Davis

Rookie trainer Renita Beaton is hopeful of breaking through for her maiden city winner at Doomben on Wednesday.

The 32-year-old Beaton has only been training since June and has a small stable of 10 horses in work at the Gold Coast.

She trained her first winner at Lismore on November 7 when Surcote won a 1410 metre maiden.

The young trainer made it two in a row when Royal Exit was successful in a Benchmark race at Warwick four days later.

Beaton will be represented by Born A Warrior – a Ryan Wiggins mount - in the Class 1 Handicap over 1200 metres while Mark Du Plessis is booked for Kalea, an emergency in the QTIS Three-Year-Old Fillies Maiden Plate over 1200 metres.

Born A Warrior has finished second in all five starts for Beaton since the six-year-old was moved on from "Team Hawkes" in Sydney earlier this year.

The son of I Am Invincible has started 28 times for a solitary win at Kembla Grange in October, 2020 but has figured in the placings 13 times, including 10 seconds.

Beaton is the fifth trainer for Born A Warrior since his days with "Team Hawkes".

“He’s been very consistent but his racing manners of missing the start or being slow away hasn’t helped him,” Beaton said.

“He likes to get back into his comfort zone and a lot of the time when he’s been beaten there’s never been any speed on for him.

“Hopefully, there’ll be some speed on for him in this.”

Beaton will be happy to see Kalea find the line in her assignment.

“She’s a well-bred filly with a big future but she’s looking for more ground,” she said.

Beaton hails from New Zealand and worked for five years for leading trainer Rob Heathcote during the “Buffering” era.

Beaton and her partner, Troy Schmetzer, rode track work for nearly six years in Hong Kong before arriving back in Queensland a year ago.

“I moved to Australia when I was 18 and worked for Rob Heathcote during the Buffering days,” she said.

“My fiancée Troy and I then went to Hong Kong and rode work over there before we came back.

“I own a home at the Gold Coast but we couldn’t get stables to start training there so I started off at Caloundra.

“The Gold Coast is undergoing redevelopment and we’ve finally got some stables near the course.

“We’re still building but I’d love to train my first winner in town on Wednesday.”